1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sliding door locking system that includes: a plurality of latch mechanisms including a front latch mechanism in which a latch capable of maintaining a sliding door in a closed state by engaging with a striker on a vehicle body is pivotably supported in a casing mounted on a front part of the sliding door; an outside handle mechanism disposed outwardly of a windowpane of the sliding door so as to enable handle operation outside the sliding door; and a remote control mechanism provided in the sliding door inwardly of the windowpane so as to exert on each of the latch mechanisms an operating force according to the handle operation of the outside handle mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a locking system is already known from, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-97121.
In such a sliding door locking system, it is necessary to transmit an operating force from the outside handle mechanism which is on the outward side of the windowpane, to the remote control mechanism side which is inward of the windowpane. In this conventional arrangement, a pivoting shaft is pivotably disposed in a front part of the sliding door at a position corresponding to the outside handle mechanism, an outside handle of the outside handle mechanism is coupled to an outer end of the pivoting shaft via a swinging link, and the remote control mechanism is coupled to an inner end of the pivoting shaft via a transmission link.
In this conventional arrangement, since it is necessary to employ a component for pivotably supporting the pivoting shaft in the sliding door, the number of components is relatively large, and since it is necessary to assemble the pivoting shaft to the sliding door, the number of assembly steps increases.